In the late 2000s, it looked like several neighbourhood theatres would be restored, bringing vitality to Hastings and Main
The looming demolition of the Imperial Theatre in Vancouver will mark not only the loss of a unique venue, but the end of a dream to transform part of the Downtown Eastside into a cultural hub.
Several propane tanks inside a tent on exploded outside the Imperial Sunday, igniting a fire that charred the front entrance and set off sprinklers inside.
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The popular nightclub and event space, located at at 319 Main St., was already closed, awaiting demolition for a new project — an 11-storey building that will include 118 units of social housing, retail, office and school space, and a “community use theatre.”
But it will be hard for the new theatre to match The Imperial, one of Vancouver’s unique spaces.
It was built in 1974 as the Golden Harvest, a Chinese-language theatre that specialized in kung fu movies.
But it was abandoned and derelict when film producer Bill Vince bought it in 2006 for $215,000.
Inspired by boutique cinemas he’d visited in London, Vince spent $2 million transforming it into a state-of-the-art, 150-seat boutique theatre, with 35-mm and digital projection, Dolby THX surround sound, and plush red leather club chairs.
It was meant to be a deluxe screening room for Vancouver’s booming film community, and also an event space. It worked as both because it had an elevated lounge and bar at the back, where the theatre’s concessions were originally located.
Vince died of cancer in 2008 and his original concept was never fully realized. In 2013, it became a nightclub and event space, and pre-pandemic was popular for small concerts. But it was closed during COVID-19 and became part of a redevelopment.
When The Imperial opened in 2007, there was high hope for the restoration and revitalization of the Pantages Theatre, a historic structure at 144 East Hastings that was built in 1907-08. Three non-profit groups — Vancouver Moving Theatre, Vancouver Cantonese Opera, and City Opera of Vancouver — signed long-term leases for the space.
But the restoration hinged on a density swap with a developer, and the city balked.
“(The city’s) plan was to do what they did with the (York) theatre on Commercial Drive, which was transfer the density off the site, restore the theatre and build residential next to it,” said civic historian John Atkin.
“They inked some agreements with local cultural groups, (such as) City Opera, it was a really interesting proposal. And then the Vision council, who knows why, declined to offer the transfer of density, so that doomed the theatre and it was torn down.”
The Pantages was the oldest theatre in Vancouver, and one of the oldest vaudeville theatres left in North America. It was considered so important that the city’s heritage department proposed the city purchase it in the 1990s, but Atkin said the city’s cultural services department declared “that the theatre had no value culturally.”
“It was sabotaged by the city’s cultural affairs department,” said Atkin. “They had a hate-on for old stuff and they loved new stuff.”
The Pantages was to have undergone a $26-million restoration, paid for by the developer. But the theatre was demolished after the discovery that rain had been pouring in through the roof, which ruined the interior.
It was a very Downtown Eastside ending. Thieves stole a parking meter and tried to break it open by dropping it several storeys onto the Pantages roof from the Regent Hotel next door. This punctured the membrane in the roof, and the water poured in.
There are still two live theatre and music venues operating in the Downtown Eastside, the Firehall Theatre at 280 East Cordova St., and The Rickshaw at 254 East Hastings St.
Another historic theatre was torn down at 720 Main Street for condos in 2007.
It opened in 1912 as a vaudeville house, and was also called The Imperial. But most Vancouverites will remember it as The Venus, a porn theatre that was painted pink.
It had a unique history — at one point it was a Pentecostal church, and in 1938 it was converted to Walsh’s Auto Wrecking. It became a theatre again in 1970.
“One of the sad things was the Imperial/Venus got dismissed because it was painted pink and it was a porno theatre,” said Atkin. “When the proposal came in to demolish it, everybody went ‘Yeah.’”
It turned out many of the original details of the 1912 theatre were hidden under renos.
“When the auto wreckers went in way back when, all they did was build a box inside the theatre,” said Atkin.
“So they basically boxed off all the ornamentation and things. I met folks that had worked in the building, and they kept telling me that if you go upstairs and pop through the hatch in the ceiling you can see the decoration and stuff.”
But the theatre was demolished.
“No one did a (heritage) survey to determine if it actually had any value,” said Atkin.
“You see that continuously in the Downtown Eastside, the area is dismissed as not having any value.”
jmackie@postmedia.com
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No-fun city no longer? Vancouver looks to build a vibrant nighttime economy
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'A risk to everybody': Exploding propane tanks prompt calls for action in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (with video)
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